Reactions Are Varied About Cancer Cluster Designation

February 3, 2010|By Mitra Malek, The Palm Beach Post

THE ACREAGE — Stinging from news that a cluster of childhood brain cancer exists in their community, Acreage residents reacted with a range of emotions Tuesday - some determined to flee their homes, others saying they aren't worried about staying in an area they've called home for years.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other lawmakers are calling for a probe - perhaps on the federal level - into the cause. And one environmental expert said the cluster appears unusual enough to deserve national attention.

Resident Nancy Cook, a pediatric nurse who has lived in The Acreage for a decade, said she cried Monday when she heard the news that health officials had found a cluster. Then she called her mother in Lake Worth and asked if she, her husband and her four children could move in.

Cook said she is considering leaving The Acreage because health officials can't explain what's causing the problem and might not ever be able to.

"Without knowing the cause, how are you going to feel safe at night putting your kids to bed?" Cook said.

But longtime Acreage resident and activist Patricia Curry said she doesn't plan to leave the home she's lived in since 1980, despite some residents' suspicions that the cause may lie in the community's well water.

The state Department of Health is in its second phase of studying the cluster, an investigation it launched in June. On Monday it confirmed preliminary findings that the number of brain and central nervous system tumors and cancer in Acreage children is higher than it should be, especially among girls.

Authorities have identified 13 cases of brain cancer or tumors among children and teenagers in the community from 1993 to 2008.

Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, said Monday that it's unlikely that health officials will be able to identify what has caused the jump, even after they analyze in-depth interviews recently completed with families whose children have been affected.

Nelson said environmental tests should start "as soon as possible." He pledged to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get them to "lend their resources and expertise to the investigation."

"Residents still don't know a cause or what's responsible for these cases of cancer," Nelson wrote to Florida's surgeon general on Tuesday. "And we can't work to fix the problem or hold someone accountable until we can answer these questions."